Talking Art With Rama Duwaji
The artist and NYC first lady sits for an exclusive interview with our editor-in-chief. Plus: Who’s behind the posters calling to boycott the Met Gala?
On a damp New York City morning last week, I visited Gracie Mansion for an exclusive interview with artist and First Lady Rama Duwaji in her studio. We talked about her art practice and political life while surrounded by her drawings and ceramics. I hope you enjoy reading this interview, through which I learned more about Duwaji's life story and got a better sense of who she is as a person and an artist.
Also in New York: Who's behind the guerrilla posters across the city calling for a boycott of the Jeff Bezos-sponsored Met Gala?
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
In the Studio With Rama Duwaji
Surrounded by her drawings and ceramics, we discussed her evolving art practice and new life as NYC first lady. | Hakim Bishara
The Bennett Prize Opens Fifth Call for Entries
Women figurative realist painters can enter to win $75,000 and a traveling solo exhibition. Applications are open through September 19.
News
- “Boycott the Bezos Met Gala” posters emerge across NYC to protest the sponsors of this year’s event, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchéz, targeting Amazon’s alleged worker exploitation and links to ICE.
- The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum launched a digital catalogue raisonné. Anyone can now browse through over 2,000 works by the artist, including paintings, handwritten letters, and early sketches.
CONDUCTOR Is New York’s First Art Fair Committed to the Global Majority
From April 30 to May 3, discover 27 galleries and 17 special projects spotlighting artists from across the world at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn.
In Memoriam
Remembering Pearl Fryar, Siri Aurdal, and Frank Stack
This week, we honor a self-taught topiary artist, a mainstay of ’60s Scandinavian art, and author of what may be the first underground comic.
Books
Inside a Black Panther Family Album
Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver’s family album depicts aspirational homemaking in diaspora, capturing the tension between rest and motion as they navigated exile with their children. | Leigh Raiford
Tulsa Artist Fellowship
Tulsa Artist Fellowship offers three years of funding, housing, and studio space to create meaningful work in Tulsa’s vibrant arts community. Applications open April 7, 2026.
Deadline: May 7, 2026, at 6pm (CT) | tulsaartistfellowship.org
See more in this month’s list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers!
Member Comment
Holly Wong on Paddy Johnson “Art Problems: Do I Need to Go to Art Fairs?"
From the Archive
Tracing the Peacock Chair’s History From Manila to Nashville
A complex web of stories encourages us to reimagine the political weight of an unassuming remnant of craft tradition, born of incarcerated labor in the Philippines. | alejandro t. acierto
